If the 4 fatalities yesterday were members of the group that robbed the mall in Makati, where is the loot? Basig ang mga NBI nga uban sa raid nag sul-ob na ug rolex ron....hmmmm
4 killed in raid on Cebu house
FOUR suspected members of the gang that robbed a Rolex shop in the Greenbelt 5 mall died after a shootout with a joint team of Cebu and Manila National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) operatives last night in Compostela, Cebu.
NBI 7 Director Medardo de Lemos confirmed that one of the fatalities is the alleged group leader, Alvin Flores. One other gang member, Rene Batiancila, was arrested.
De Lemos said the shootout erupted when the bureau tried to serve two warrants of arrest, one against Flores and the other against Batiancila.
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“In the process, a firefight ensued and four persons perished. Batiancila tried to escape but he was caught,” he said.
The arrest warrants for robbery (Flores) and illegal possession of a firearm (Batiancila) came from the Regional Trial Court’s Branch 51 in Caloocan City and Branch 71 in Antipolo City. These were obtained by the NBI Reaction, Arrest and Interdiction Division (Raid) based in Manila.
De Lemos identified two of the four fatalities last night as Ritchie Hijapon and Mark Alejandro Salamanca. The identification was based on photographs the NBI operatives
from Manila brought with them.
The two other suspects have yet to be identified but De Lemos said the NBI can obtain their fingerprints and compare these with records on file.
Over a dozen operatives from the Manila-based division, led by Head Agent Roel Bolivar, have been in Cebu since Monday, waiting for local resources to confirm the location of the subjects.
They turned out to be hiding in a beach house in Barangay Estaca, Compostela, some 25.3 kilometers north of Cebu City.
Agents recovered several long rifles from the crime scene and suspected that the group was here for a job. Among the guns obtained were an m16 rifle, a KG full-automatic machine pistol, two .45 cal. pistols and assorted ammunition.
Bolivar said the suspects were all inside a duplex-type beach house owned by a yet-to-be identified Dutch national in Estaca when the agents arrived with the warrant.
“When we approached the house to serve the warrant, we were fired upon. They then tried to maneuver towards the beach to escape,” he explained.
They used the embankments designed to keep seawater out at high tide in their maneuvers.
“Luckily, none of our agents were hurt, thank God,” he added.
De Lemos and Bolivar said they cannot yet consider the group as neutralized because the robbery in Makati involved 11 persons and only four were taken.
“There is an effect because the leader of the group was slain,” Bolivar said.
At 10 p.m., reporters waiting outside a fence counted four bodies being brought out of the Estaca property by personnel from the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes.
A fifth person was in handcuffs and was seen being led inside a vehicle with tinted windows.
Radio reports stated the shootout began past 5 p.m. and lasted about 15 minutes.
Before that, the Compostela Police Station confirmed that agents Bolivar of the NBI central office and Ernesto Macabare of the NBI 7 dropped by the police station at
4:52 p.m. to inform the police about the operation.
Television news crews were barred from shooting footage over the fence of the compound. Other agents, reporters observed, wore cloth masks and carried long firearms.
Police also would not comment on the incident, saying the operation was conducted by the agents from the NBI central office.
The Alvin Flores Gang was tagged responsible for the midday robbery pulled on the Rolex store at the Greenbelt 5 shopping mall in Makati City.
Greenbelt 5 houses some of the most expensive international brands.
The gang barged into the mall dressed in black police bomb squad uniforms, telling the security guard they were going to verify a report about a bomb threat.
Then they entered the Rolex store and pointed firearms at the attendants and customers while breaking display cases with hammers. The gang helped themselves to luxury watches until a politician’s police escorts fired at them.
One of their companions was killed while the others escaped aboard a Toyota Corolla and a Honda City.
The Philippine National Police has recommended a P500,000 reward for Flores’ capture
Where's the loot?
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